Statement in response to Jordan’s attack on Israeli forces

(Washington, DC: October 18, 2024): On October 18, 2024, two Jordanian citizens, Amer Qawas and Hossam Abu Ghazale, carried out an attack on the Israeli military, crossing the border near the Dead Sea into Israel and injuring two Israeli soldiers. Jordan’s largest political party, the Islamic Action Front (IAF), which won the largest bloc in parliament in September 2024 elections, supported the attack in one opinion reproduced below in English, calling it a “heroic operation… in response to the massacres carried out by the occupation against the Palestinian population in Gaza and the West Bank.”

“Popular armed resistance to Israel’s war in Gaza has now spread from Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen to Jordan, reflected not only in this surprise cross-border attack by two ordinary Jordanians, but also in the public support of the attack by Jordan’s largest political party.” Party, the Islamic Action Front,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of DAWN. “This escalation is a direct result of the Israeli military’s genocidal campaign in Gaza and the West Bank, which is stoking anger and militancy throughout the region.”

“This event is further evidence that the Jordanian public’s anger over Israel’s genocide in Gaza cannot be assuaged by hollow official statements or contained by violence and surveillance,” said Raed Jarrar, advocacy director of DAWN. “Despite Jordan’s exceptional security apparatus, two young, untrained men managed to carry out a serious attack. The only way to stop the escalation is for the US to force a ceasefire in Gaza by imposing an immediate arms embargo on Israel.”

“This is a dangerous moment for Jordan, the first time in decades that a political party in Jordan has advocated non-state military action against Israel,” said Jamal Al-Tahat, senior adviser to DAWN. “The Jordanian government should respect the right of its citizens to express their opinions on the genocide in Gaza and avoid further inciting its citizens through ruthless reprisals against the Islamic Action Front.”

Statement from the Islamic Action Front:

The Islamic Action Front Party blesses the heroic action carried out this morning by two young members of the Islamic movement, the heroic martyr Amer Qawas and the heroic martyr Hossam Abu Ghazaleh, in the Dead Sea area on the Jordanian-Palestinian border, injuring several Soldiers of the criminal occupation. This action is in response to the occupation’s massacres against the Palestinian population in Gaza and the West Bank, as well as its aggression against holy sites.

The Party considers this operation as a true expression of the attitude of the free Jordanian youth and the heartbeat of the Jordanian street through bullets and blood, supporting the steadfastness of the Palestinian people and their resistance to the occupation. It represents a natural response to the genocidal massacres that have been carried out on our brothers in blood and fate for more than a year, amid open international complicity and shameful Arab silence. This operation continues the path of sacrifice and martyrdom paved by the Jordanian martyrs who preceded them on the soil of Palestine as partners in the liberation struggle.

The Islamic Action Front Party expresses its pride and honor over this heroic operation in which two young Jordanians with their pure blood wrote scenes of heroism and sacrifice and avenged the innocent blood shed in the land of Palestine and Lebanon. The party calls on the government to reconsider all agreements signed with the Zionist enemy, stop land access to the Zionist entity and work to prepare the necessary arrangements to combat Zionist threats. This includes strengthening the internal front and reactivating the People’s Army to prepare the Jordanian youth to support the brave Jordanian Army in the face of the increasing threat to Jordan’s sovereignty and national security from the Zionist enemy.